Day Eight’s annual Arts Journalism Conference is designed to provide practical training and opportunities for arts writers and to increase the quality of public dialogue related to arts journalism.
In 2018 the conference included keynote speakers Jamie Bennett (Art Place America) and Geoff Edgers (Washington Post), and in 2019 workshop leaders Kayla Randall (Washington City Paper Arts Editor), Philip Kennicott (Art and Architecture Critic Washington Post) and Peggy McGlone (Local Arts reporter Washington Post.) The conference also includes an Award for Service to the Arts – in 2019 presented to photographer Carol Harrison.
While each conference includes some sessions of general relevance, the 2020 conference will particularly focus on cross-border interpretation. How do arts writers interpret across cultures? What best practices exist for serving artists and audiences? What does it mean to represent or interpret a culture different from a journalist’s own?
Day Eight’s annual Arts Journalism Conference includes speakers, panels, and workshops. For the online September 26, 2020 conference we are for the first time offering a public call for panels and workshops.
Proposals are due by June 10, 2020 and will be evaluated by the conference committee using an evaluative rubric considering relevancy to potential attendees, fit to conference topic, fit to format, and clarity. Notification will be made by email by June 30, 2020.
- All sessions will occur online.
- Proposals may be for presentations, discussions, or roundtables, and include as few as one and as many as five panelists or presenters.
- Proposals must identify a topic, moderator or teacher, panelists if expected, duration, and ideal number of attendees.
- We believe sessions designed for small groups may be as valuable as sessions proposed for large groups and will seek to include a balance of the two.
- Workshops, panels, and roundtables that clearly relate in some way to the conference theme are more likely to be included
The conference is produced with area professional and student partners, in 2019 including American University School of Communication, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, AU Eagle student newspaper, George Washington University Hatchet student newspaper, Howard University Hilltop student newspaper, Tagg Magazine, The DC Line, and DC Theatre Scene.
A committee of volunteers, including representatives from partnering institutions, has operational oversight of the conference, including: Mark Lieberman, Diane Charnov, Jennifer Anne Mitchell, Chris Kain, Julian Oquendo, Phil Davis, Robert Bettmann, Anying Guo, and Angela Carroll.
To submit a proposal please access the online form here. [Submission period has closed]